Air travel is no small part of the world’s economy. Although it only totals 1% of the world’s gross domestic product, that’s $871 billion spent on about 4+ billion tickets a year.
And the airlines, through their association, predict that will double in less than 20 years. Airline growth in the past few years has followed two trends: The growth of aggressive new airlines in places like India and China where the market itself is mushrooming, and consolidation into mega-carriers in others, such as the U.S.
Here, then, are the 20 biggest, by seats available. Notice that the sizes of fleets vary widely; some airlines have large fleets of small planes and that’s reflected in seats.
| Planes | Seats | |
| American | 956 | 256,928,663 |
| Delta | 879 | 233,758,798 |
| Southwest | 749 | 209,526,838 |
| United | 765 | 193,981,547 |
| Ryanair | 439 | 142,540,776 |
| China Southern | 597 | 131,972,745 |
| China Eastern | 525 | 122,917,175 |
| EasyJet | 317 | 100,082,969 |
| Turkish | 350 | 93,109,025 |
| Air China | 418 | 90,531,776 |
| Lufthansa | 338 | 90,465,791 |
| Emirates | 271 | 78,255,966 |
| IndiGo (India) | 206 | 74,570,054 |
| ANA | 294 | 72,674,568 |
| Latam | 309 | 68,393,747 |
| Air Canada | 180 | 64,259,302 |
| British Airways | 267 | 63,253,213 |
| Air France | 206 | 58,888,616 |
| Aeroflot | 253 | 56,260,035 |
| Alaska | 233 | 54,574,295 |
And here are a couple of odd bits:
The airline that serves the most countries is Turkish, with 121, followed by Lufthansa with 105, Air France at 85 and Qatar at 83
The airlines that serve the most destinations list is topped by two that take no passengers: UPS Airlines, and FedEx Express at 720 and 375, followed closely by United (373), American (350) and Delta (320).
